Founder Profile

Pew is an independent nonprofit organization – the sole beneficiary of seven individual trusts established between 1948 and 1979 by four generous and committed siblings. Learn more about one of our founders: Mary Ethel Pew.

Research

Laying the groundwork for sustainable fisheries in Japan

Isao Sakaguchi, Ph.D., conducts research on the governance of Japanese fisheries and fishery certification schemes. He has many years of experience working in international relations, with an emphasis on the role of nongovernmental organizations and scientific knowledge in global environmental governance.

The government of Japan has not yet put in place a sustainable fisheries policy despite widespread overfishing in its waters and ongoing importation of illegally caught fish. Instead, the country’s fisheries management agency has historically taken a “watch and wait” approach, with nominal catch limits applied to only a small number of commercially fished species and passive responses to international calls to eliminate illegal, unreported, and unregulated fisheries. One result has been continued sales of depleted species at artificially low prices.

With his Pew marine fellowship, Sakaguchi will compare the role of the national science body in Japan with its counterparts in Norway, Peru, and South Korea, which are transitioning to sustainable management. As part of this process, he will then develop a framework for potential reform by identifying conservation measures that these and other countries have adopted. Sakaguchi also will compare the fisheries management policies of Japan and other countries with the standards set for global fisheries by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization.